London police officers are facing a misconduct review over Bianca Williams

Five officers from London’s Metropolitan Police will face a gross misconduct hearing in 2020 over the stop and search of two black athletes, police said.

Professional sprinters Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo Dos Santos were handcuffed after being pulled from their vehicle by police officers while their three-month-old baby was in the car.

Williams, a celebrated gold medalist in the sprint relay at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 European Championships, accused police of racial profiling.

“I applaud this decision and hope it opens the door for the Met to be more honest and reflective about the culture of racism, which is undoubtedly still a reality within the organization,” Williams, 28, said in a statement obtained by was released to the couple’s lawyers.

The couple were searched by officers for weapons and drugs during a traffic stop on July 4, 2020, but nothing was found and no arrests were made.

Four officers and an acting sergeant are now facing charges of gross misconduct.

The officers are accused of violating professional standards related to duties and responsibilities, use of force, equality and diversity, order and direction and authority, respect and courtesy, and honesty and integrity, police said.

Recordings from the control and search sparked mass anger on social mediawhich raises concerns about how London police treat black people.

Dos Santos, 27, said: “It’s been a long road and who knows how long we’ll have to wait now for the misconduct trial to be completed. This sheds light on how difficult it is to ensure police are held accountable for their failures.”

The Independent Bureau of Police Conduct said the police officers involved in the incident would face a panel that “will determine whether allegations that they breached professional standards are substantiated”.

The police apologized for the stress suffered by the two athletes. It said the couple were stopped and searched because they believed the car had been “driven in a manner that aroused suspicion”.

After the stop, then-Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick publicly supported her officers, claiming that “any cop worth their salt would have stopped that car.”

Williams said she felt “particularly vindicated” by the IOPC’s decision to “discredit and undermine our grievances and trivialize the experience of black people in Britain and how we are being policed”. she tweeted back then.

The incident immediately followed the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, which launched the global Black Lives Matter movement.